Green Living

Rain Barrels

Benefits of Rain Barrels

Rain barrels allow you to harvest rainwater allowing you to save money and water, to water your flowerbeds and garden. Rain barrels are important because they help to decrease the high demand for domestic water in residential irrigation that can account for up to 40% of consumption. By collecting rainwater and storing it in rain barrels, you'll have water for future use, whether it's for watering the garden or your flowers.

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What Are Rain Barrels?

Rainwater is one of the most abundant and consistently available natural resources. Harvesting and conservation of water with the use of rain barrels or rainwater tanks is an efficient way to cut down on the cost of water usage in the household and also helps to alleviate the burden of water needs. Collecting rainwater for your garden is a smart idea, no matter what your motivation is. Plants like rainwater, because it's naturally soft, and free of chlorine and other chemicals unlike tap water. If you live in an area where drought is a problem, collecting rainwater with rain barrels is a great way to deal with local watering restrictions.

Strategic placement of rain barrels underneath the gutters of your home can provide a barrel full of rainwater in a downpour. With enough rainwater saved up throughout the year and depending on how many rain barrels you are using, you may not have to use the garden hose for an entire summer. The benefits of having rain barrels does wonders for people who tend to use the garden hose on a liberal basis, helping to save not just a money but also it helps provide fresher and purer natural soft water for your plants.

It may be surprising to you how much water you can collect every time it rains. With just a half inch of rain falling on a 1,000-square-foot roof, you can yield 300 gallons of water. For a modest-sized house with a roof that is 30 ft. x 36 ft. that has a typical 2 ft. roof overhang, a half inch of rain can yield you around 400 gallons of water using rain barrels. That is enough to rainwater to fill six standard-size rain barrels.

In arid parts of the country, rainwater cisterns are becoming more and more commonplace. Rain barrels can hold hundreds or even thousands of gallons of rainwater, which will allow you to keep a beautiful lawn and garden while still following your local water restrictions.

What Do You Need To Make Rain Barrels?

1. Storage Tank. If you want to start small and keep it simple, consider a wood or plastic rain barrel, which will typically hold between 40 and 80 gallons of rainwater. If you have the space, you can combine several barrels in tandem.

2. Debris Screen and Barrel Lid. A Downspout Diverter makes it easy to direct rainwater right into your storage tank. You will also need some type of debris screen to filter out leaves, pine needles and other debris from entering your rain barrels. If you don’t filter out the debris, it will accumulate at the bottom of the tank and can clog up the outflow of water. A removable wire mesh screen is all you really need, either mounted on top of the rain barrel or attached to the end of your downspout. A well-fitting lid is also important to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the standing rainwater.

3. Distribution Device. Lastly for a rain barrel, you will need a standard spigot or hose installed near the bottom of the barrel, with an on/off valve. You can attach a longer hose to reach your garden, or just use the spigot to fill watering cans. Gravity will do the it’s work to move the water through the hose. You can also do without a hose or spigot if you prefer, you would just lift the lid and dip the watering can right in to fill it up. If you have a very large reservoir, or want to distribute water some distance away, you might consider investing in a small pump.

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